MR. SNOW: As Bill Plante just said, let's begin by welcoming back
Bret Baier. You've been in a lot of our thoughts and prayers, and very
happy to hear the Bret's son has come through some very testing surgery,
coming through with flying colors. (Applause.) There's no fear like a
parent worrying about a kid. So, God bless you. Just very happy to
hear it.

We are going to give you some audio-visuals -- or some visuals
today.

Q Oh, boy.

Q Pictures of Bret's baby? (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: No, but I'll tell you what, we expect to see those soon.

As we mentioned yesterday, there have been a number of actions
against al Qaeda in Iraq. Today, in Baghdad, General Kevin Bergner laid
out some recent developments, and I thought I'd share a few of those
with you today. Now, one of the things I mentioned last week was the
fact that there -- hang on a second. All right, let's try this -- here
we go. (Laughter.) Getting used to my own technology here.

One of the things we noted last week is that in the months of May
and June, there were kills or captures of a number of senior al Qaeda in
Iraq leaders. That would include 11 local al Qaeda in Iraq leaders,
seven facilitators, five cell leaders, and three vehicle-borne IED
network leaders.

Since then, further developments: On the 14th of this month,
coalition forces captured the security emir of Mosul, the security
leader, and also a car bomb cell leader, southeast of Baghdad. The
following day, coalition forces killed a top al Qaeda target in south
Baghdad. His name was Abu Jurah, who was a cell leader responsible for
considerable death and carnage. He was responsible for IEDs --
vehicle-borne IEDs, and indirect fire attacks on coalition forces in Abu
Jabour.

After U.S. forces received intelligence about a meeting involving
Abu Jurah and his associates, field artillery fired two guided rounds
into a house in which a meeting was taking place. After an unmanned
aerial vehicle spotted people fleeing the scene in a sedan, an Apache
helicopter was dispatched and tracked down and destroyed the sedan.

This is an example of the kind of intelligence we are beginning to
get now from locals about al Qaeda activities. And it has certainly
been indispensable in Baghdad and elsewhere.

In addition, MNF-I has announced the capture earlier this month of
another senior al Qaeda operative, Khalid Abdul Fattah Da'ud Mahmoud
al-Mashadani -- also known as Abu Shahid. He was captured in Mosul on
July 4th. He was the highest ranking Iraqi in the al Qaeda in Iraq
ranks. He was the so-called media emir, basically the propaganda
minister. He also served as an intermediary between the Egyptian head
of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayub al-Masri, and senior al Qaeda leadership,
Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Quite often, he was the direct
conduit of conversations between the two.

The following chart notes some of his key associates, living and
departed. These include Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Kurdi, who was a bomb
maker, Baziyani, a senior leader -- all of these are either killed or
captured -- Wamid, a former emir of Baghdad, another former emir of
Baghdad, Azzam, Khalil who was al-Masri's spiritual advisor. The point
here is that this is a very important fellow who clearly had connections
with senior leadership.

Now, Mashadani was the senior Iraqi, but he answered to foreigners.
I already mentioned that al-Masri, who is the head of al Qaeda in Iraq,
is an Egyptian. But the four top officers who respond to al-Masri are,
themselves, not Iraqis, they're an Egyptian, an Saudi, a Yemeni, and a
Tunisian. Al-Mashadani and his masters understood that Iraqis wanted
some sense that al Qaeda in Iraq had indigenous leadership, so what they
did is they created a fictional head of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar
al-Baghdadi. They even hired an actor to provide voice-overs for
al-Baghdadi's statements that were posted on the Internet.

Mashadani, under interrogation has, in fact, admitted to sort of
the nature of the charade, and he told those who were questioning him:
"Al-Masri started overpowering us and acted of his own accord."
Al-Masri controlled the distribution of funding and controlled the
content of ISI publications.

Among other things that also have happened this week in Iraq was,
in south of Baghdad, the seizure of a car bomb-making factory, a bomb
factory was destroyed. As you can see, it contained two truck bombs, 10
shaped charges, and 3,000 pounds of ingredients for explosives, along
with 10 55-gallon drums filled with explosives such as nitric acid.

So there you have -- again, if you're trying to get a sense of the
motion and the operational pace when it comes to going after al Qaeda in
Iraq, operations like this are going on constantly, dealing with cell
leaders and also with small cells around the country. We'll try to
provide those on a fairly regular basis, just to give you a sense of
ongoing operations.

And with that, we'll go to questions.

Q Yes, Tony, are you convinced that this kind of information is
not being reported adequately out of Iraq, itself? Is that why you're
doing it --

MR. SNOW: I don't know. This is something -- I actually think
Kevin Bergner has been very forward-leaning and he's putting these
things out. I'm not sure that the American public gets an opportunity
to see a lot of this and I think it's important to do it.

Q Tony, do you know what compares with last year, how many
people were captured or killed or --

MR. SNOW: I will get you a comparison. No, a perfectly good
question, Martha, and I'll give you a basis of comparison. What is
clear right now -- and I think you know this from your own reporting --
is that there does appear to have been what Pete Pace was calling a sea
change in the way that the Iraqis, themselves -- particularly Sunnis --
are regarding al Qaeda. They look upon it as an interloper, an invader,
and one that is clearly flying not only under false colors, but knows
it, even to the somewhat comical point of creating a fictional head of a
fictional Islamic front within Iraq. So I'll try to get you some basis
for a backward comparison, but it is important to note the forward
progress, as well.

Go ahead.

Q Could you talk about the hierarchy here and how you decide who
is high-ranking, who isn't high-ranking? You put 26 guys high-ranking.
Do you have any sense of how big this operation is, what the command and
control is like there?

MR. SNOW: Well, you do know -- again, you don't want to go too far
into disclosing sources and methods, but on the other hand, what you do
have is a pretty clear structure. You do have al-Masri and his
lieutenants, who are sort of at the top of the pyramid. And actually,
Kevin did provide kind of an operational flowchart. I'll make that
available to you. I did not put that together as a slide --

Q But just the scope of the organization. I mean, you, over the
years, have said that, I think, two-thirds of al Qaeda, the
international leaders --

MR. SNOW: Yes, senior leadership.

Q -- senior leadership was knocked out, and yet you said they're
regenerating. It appears, from tracking this for the past few years,
that al Qaeda in Iraq also regenerates --

MR. SNOW: Of course.

Q Zarqawi was killed. So you'd say, these senior leaders, they
just keep regenerating?

MR. SNOW: Well, look, people fill the vacancies. But on the other
hand, what you also have when you fill those vacancies, quite often are
people with less experience and less capability than the people they
have replaced.

Q They don't seem like they're any less capable in the last --

MR. SNOW: Well, I don't know. If you take -- no, if you take a
look at what has been going on, and point of fact, they have been less
successful. There have been more interdictions, there have been more
cases in which their operations --

Q The lethality has been enormous.

MR. SNOW: Well, the lethality -- what you had was, sort of, a fall
in lethality from, I guess it was February through May; then you had a
spike in May and June -- no, I'm sorry, March and April -- and then it
has gone down again. Look, you know that there are going to times when
al Qaeda does, in fact, succeed, having lethal attacks. The question
is, are you degrading capabilities, and more importantly, are the locals
turning on al Qaeda? Are they providing actionable intelligence against
people who are clearly committing acts of violence against them? And
that is the case.

Go ahead.

Q Just one more. Diane Sawyer asked Fran Townsend this morning,
are there more al Qaeda in Iraq today than there were before the
Americans went in? And Fran said, "It's difficult to say because
there's no baseline by which I can judge the numbers." Do you actually
think it's possible there aren't more al Qaeda members?

MR. SNOW: I'm going to stick with what Fran said, but it is clear
that what has happened is that al Qaeda does look upon Iraq, or has been
looking upon Iraq as a great opportunity to try, in fact, to blow apart
a democracy and establish its own safe haven.

There has been -- as we've documented and we've talked about
before, you know that 60 to 80 suiciders seem to be coming across the
Syrian border each month; 90 percent of them are not Iraqis. And they
clearly -- so there's an attempt to get that in. You also know that
there are unrelated -- well, there are related activities, but Quds
forces and others have also been flooding some resources in. So we do
know that foreigners are trying to come in and disrupt the democracy in
Iraq.

Q Then how can you stick with what she said? You don't really
know whether there are more now than before?

MR. SNOW: Because Fran -- look, Fran is our Homeland Security
Assistant to the President, has access to more information on this than
I do.

Q You're making a great deal out of the cooperation of the
locals.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Do you have any reason to believe that the locals would be as
cooperative if there weren't American troops and American money behind
this effort? Do you believe that they're doing this simply because they
want to, or are they simply going where the power is?

MR. SNOW: No, I think -- for instance, if you take a look -- and
I don't want to pretend to be able to read their minds, Bill, but at
least based on what I've been able to see, if you take a look at what
happened in Anbar, this was not sort of following the dough or following
the power, but, in fact, making a deliberate decision, once there was
some confidence that American forces were going to be staying with the
Iraqis, to turn against al Qaeda. Why? Because al Qaeda was killing
their people, they're sick of it.

There are also some evidence that out of Diyala, former insurgent
groups that operated as fairly cohesive units going after U.S. and Iraqi
forces, again, have made the decision that it is in their interest and
their security interest to be going after al Qaeda because al Qaeda is
killing them and they're tired of it.

I think it is safe to say that having some confidence of American
presence is a contributing factor because if, in fact, you believe that
the Americans are going to be there, they're going to help you finish
the job and they're going to provide support, that there is going to be
a higher level of confidence, not merely in sort of cooperating
militarily, but also turning over pieces of intelligence, such as
saying, we've got a meeting in this house.

Q Why would they believe that the Americans are going to be
there when there is a great effort, which they can see, to get the
Americans out?

MR. SNOW: On the other hand, what they have also seen is a surge
of troops in, beginning in February, concluding just several weeks ago,
of troops being surged in, and they also see that there are --

Q The President says they're coming home.

MR. SNOW: The President doesn't say when they're coming home, and
the President also says that the troops are there to create greater
security conditions. And so far, there's evidence that they're having
some success in that area.

Q I guess the bottom-line question is, what guarantee can there
possibly be of security when American troops do draw down?

MR. SNOW: Well, one of the things that the President -- we have
always said is that what you need to have is the ability for the Iraqis
to step up into the leadership roles. There are some examples of that,
as well. Kevin talked about a number of them today, and this had to
deal with some of the Quds forces. He mentioned on July 1st, Iraqi
police detained a special group brigade commander -- they call them
special groups, or special group brigades -- commander 50 miles south of
Baghdad; 7 July, Iraqi forces detaining seven special group members in
Baghdad are involved in death squad activities, kidnappings and
assassination; 11 July, Iraqi army, with some support from coalition
forces, killed a special group cell leader who controlled a cell of 120
terrorists and was involved in kidnapping, extortion, sectarian murders,
explosively formed penetrators; 14 July, Iraqi security forces killing
two special group terrorists who were trying to put an explosive device
along the roadside in Al Quds; and on 15 July, Iraqi army and coalition
forces detaining three special group terrorists.

What you do have is operational cooperation that is building
greater capacity on the part of the Iraqis. As we've mentioned, they're
taking a much higher percentage of casualties and kills in battle than
the Americans are. So they are stepping up and developing the
capability. But also, as we noted last week, they've got a long way to
go and they still need more. They need more in terms of troops, they
need more in terms of equipment. And that has to be a continued point
of emphasis, because our forces -- we do want our forces to be able to
come home, but we also want them to come home under circumstances where
the Iraqi people, themselves, are going to know that their own forces
can do the security job.

Q Tony, could you say something about the 52-47 Senate vote?
Republicans pretty much held together; it was eight votes away from
cloture. Do you expect to be able to hold these Republicans together
going forward?

MR. SNOW: Well, we think so. The question is whether they're --
look, as we've said all along, it is important to allow people to assess
what's going on in Iraq. We've given you a little bit of evidence of
what's gone on the last week in terms of taking on some of the key
factors in Iraq. It's important for members of Congress to get a fuller
sense of how the surge is working, or also where they think it's not
working. They're going to get a report -- they want a report on
September 15th from Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus; they'll get
that. And at that point, people will be able to make further
assessments.

Q Following up on the NIE and the administration's recognition,
according to that document, that what's happening in Pakistan with
respect to al Qaeda simply is not working, given that, what is the
administration prepared to do?

MR. SNOW: Well, there are a number of things. We, in fact, have
done a number of things in terms of trying to provide support for the
Pakistanis. And I'll just lay out a few of those for you. Forgive me
as I leaf through my own materials here. Among other things -- and this
is just a partial list -- but let's -- first what you have is 85,000
Pakistani security forces deployed at the border, and they're making
further forward deployments.

The Pakistani government has a development plan for the region, for
about $100 million from that government. We're committed to providing
$150 million a year for five years. We've also committed to $300
million a year in foreign military financing. We also provide coalition
support funds to reimburse expenditures incurred in operations in the
war on terror. We have provided 100 forward observation bases within
the tribal areas. We have provided fixed-wing aircraft and also
helicopters for doing surveillance and trying to make it possible for
more rapid deployment.

President Musharraf wants additional funding to support Frontier
Corps that represent the majority of those fighting in the federally
administered tribal areas, and we're looking for ways to support the
request. And, as always, we also retain -- we certainly do not rule out
options, and we retain the option especially of striking actionable
targets.

So there's considerable discussion going on, but it is clearly of
the utmost importance to go in there and deal with the problem in the
tribal areas.

Q Given all those resources and everything you've laid out, is
there a new urgency, now that the NIE has been made public, to take
action?

MR. SNOW: No, I think there's been continued urgency, and I think
one of the things -- it certainly provides a moment of focus or clarity,
but on the other hand, these are realities that I think people have
known about and need to continue to deal with. Keep in mind that the
movement of forces toward the tribal area by the Musharraf government
began before this report came out.

Q Following up on that, Tony, given that urgency and the new
resources that you're talking about, what do you think the prospects are
that you'll ever stand up there and put on a slide show that shows the
kingpins that are hiding in the -- the capture of the kingpins who are
hiding in Pakistan?

MR. SNOW: Look, we devoutly hope for that day. I'm not going to
try to make a prediction. It is obviously very difficult business. But
make no mistake about it, we're determined to get bin Laden, we're
determined to get Zawahiri, we're determined to get senior leadership of
al Qaeda. And furthermore, we're determined to continue to develop
methods by which we interrupt, intercept, kill and capture those who are
involved, but also use whatever means at our disposal to make it more
difficult.

One of the key findings in the National Intelligence Estimate is
that the United States has become a much more difficult target, in many
ways, since September 11th, because we have enhanced security, because
we have enhanced abilities to try to ferret out what terrorists are
doing, and also because we've been very active on the global front, and,
in addition, we have considerable cooperation from our allies around the
globe.

So while al Qaeda is trying to build strength, keep in mind we're
building strength at the same time, and so are our allies. So to roll
this all together, again, obviously we want to get bin Laden, and the
sooner the better.

Q Given the political reality in the domestic situation in
Pakistan, do you think Musharraf fully shares that determination?

MR. SNOW: Again, Pervez Musharraf is a guy who twice has been the
target of al Qaeda plots to kill him. I think he understands far more
vividly than you or I the importance of breaking up al Qaeda and going
after terror elements.

Q Tony, two quick questions. One, as far as this report is
concerned, comparing the first reports, you think the President is
concerned about this report this time, or is no change as far as
attitude or -- what President think about --

MR. SNOW: Well, first, this is a different kind of report. This
is one that was directly concerning homeland security. What the
President does is he takes a look at the intelligence, and obviously,
what you do with intelligence -- the President gets briefings constantly
on this -- is that you try to use that as the basis for effective action
to make the country safe.

Q But then as far as the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement is
concerned, there were yesterday some high-level officials meeting with
Mr. Hadley, including Energy and Foreign Secretary and also National
Security Advisor from India. Did they discuss, as far as this report,
of terrorism in the region, and also, where does this up-and-down vote,
"123" stands now?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, as we've said all along, Goyal, the civil
nuclear agreement is very important to us and we want to see it
successfully concluded.

Bret?

Q Tony, this morning, you said the Import Safety Working Group
the President is setting up is not a slap at China.

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q But it does come after this string of high-profile cases --

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q -- of food-borne illnesses, so it's kind of easy to connect
the dots to China, isn't it?

MR. SNOW: Yes, but it's also important to note that you still have
food safety concerns throughout the world and it's important to act on
them.

Q China's now blocking some shipments of chicken and pork ribs
and other food products from American companies. Is this -- is there a
concern here that this increased food fight might be a mini trade war?

MR. SNOW: I don't think so. Again, I think it's important to
understand that the first obligation of the federal government is always
the safety and security of the American people. And what we're doing is
due diligence on trying to make sure that, in fact, we can ensure the
safety of products coming into the country.

On the other hand, the President also has been a vigorous and
continues to be a vigorous advocate for free trade. We have been
pushing to try to have a successful completion of the Doha Round, and we
understand that it is especially important for developing countries to
have free trade. It not only gives us access to the vast majority of
the world's markets, but also gives them access to be able to strengthen
their own economies through an open and competitive process. So, no, we
don't see this as the beginning of a trade war.

Q Tony, two questions about the President's telephone diplomacy
ever since the Middle East conference or meeting announcement. My
understanding of the timing is that Sheikh Khalifa was either on his way
to or just arriving in Syria when the phone call happened. Was there
any discussion of what he should -- what the United States would like
him to say to Syria?

MR. SNOW: No, we've given you the details and the readout.

Q When you talk about asking these leaders to provide support or
keep supporting -- provide more support President Abbas, what kinds of
things are you looking for?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, I'll leave it at -- look, there are any
number of forms support can take. One is financial, one is
humanitarian, certainly to do -- so you put together whatever packages
you want. But the fact is that you also have to do the institution
building. We keep talking about the upcoming meeting involving parties.

The most important thing right now is to strengthen the Palestinian
government institutionally so it's capable of moving forward. It will
need to be able to provide for its security; it will need to be able to
provide for the needs of its people; and obviously there's still
humanitarian concerns in Gaza that folks need to deal with, as well.

Q Tony, following on Bret's question, you mentioned this
morning, obviously, there's import products from a large number of
countries, but does the administration have specific concerns about
China and its role as an increasingly large provider of an increasingly
wide array of products that are commonly used in the United States?

MR. SNOW: Well, we think it's important -- no, we believe in free
trade. But on the other hand, again, it's important to maintain the
safety and security of this country by making sure the things that you
import meet the basic health standards.

So, look, China obviously does a brisk trade with the United
States. It's one that we think we have a vested interest in making sure
that there's continued growth in China; at the same time, continued
two-way growth between China and the United States in terms of trade.

Q Does the recent track record provide anything to give
Americans pause about products from China?

MR. SNOW: I'll let others draw conclusions on that.

Q Tony, you just said recently in this press conference the U.S.
has become a much more difficult target, while, when Tom Ridge was the
head of Homeland Security, he said it's not a matter of it, but when.
Are we still living under that umbrella?

MR. SNOW: I think you always have to assume that al Qaeda is going
to do whatever it can to try to commit high-profile acts of violence in
the United States. And the last thing we want to do is to have people
become complacent about the security situation.

One of the things that the National Intelligence Estimate said and
briefers said afterwards, is that while al Qaeda certainly has a much
different configuration than it had before September 11th, the one thing
that hasn't changed is the determination to inflict damage on the United
States. So I think there is a need for constant vigilance, and
therefore -- I'm not going to -- I understand what Tom Ridge said. We
hope that it doesn't come to pass that it happens again. But on the
other hand, one of the reasons why the President has spent so much time
trying to build capacity on the security side -- militarily, in terms of
intelligence, in terms of greater cooperation between federal, state and
local law enforcement officials, and sharing information and responding
quickly to things that are going on -- all of that is designed not only
to make the country safer, but also make it much more difficult and even
prohibitively expensive for terror organizations to try to conduct
large-scale operations in the U.S.

Q Our vulnerabilities six years ago compared today -- what is
the percentage of the nation's vulnerabilities --

MR. SNOW: There's no way to quantify, but we are significantly
less vulnerable than we were --

Q How? Can you give us specifics?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, you simply talk about the security
situation, September 10th, 2001. We didn't have the Patriot Act. We
didn't have surveillance programs. We didn't have military operations
and police operations all around the globe going after al Qaeda and its
affiliates, ranging from Asia to North Africa to Europe, even to the
United States when there have been cells. The most recent report
indicates no known al Qaeda cells in the United States -- doesn't mean
they're not going to try to set up cells. But the fact is that we have
brought a whole lot more resources to bear, we know more, we have more
people in the fight -- and not just Americans, but people from all
around the world who are providing intelligence and cooperation in
fighting the war on terror.

It's one of the reasons why the United States is less vulnerable,
it's a tougher target -- but on the other hand, again, you have to
underscore three times, as the President has said many times, it only
takes one successful operation on al Qaeda to be able to declare
victory. We have to have a hundred percent success record in
interdicting and preventing those acts of violence. And that requires a
lot of vigilance and a lot of people staying on top of things
constantly.

Q Tony, tomorrow there will be a news conference of the Israeli
Project on Capitol Hill. They've got 75,000 petitions they're
distributing to world leaders, asking for more rapid sanctions against
-- and international pressure against Iran. Is the administration now
backing and taking action at this point?

MR. SNOW: Connie, I'm not -- I'm afraid I was not briefed on the
Israel Project's activities before I came up here today.

Q Have any of these sanctions or steps that have been taken by
the United States or the U.N. had any results?

MR. SNOW: Let me put it this way: The United States engages in
activities that are designed to send a clear signal that the status quo
is unacceptable. You saw that with some financial sanctions with North
Korea. And what actions we take with regard to the Iranians, are
designed to make it clear that they are posed with a choice: The choice
is to go ahead and align itself with the international community, stop
trying to pursue anything that may be construed as progress towards
nuclear weapons, and have a way forward that has been offered; or, on
the other hand, face strictures from the international community. The
President talked yesterday with Ban Ki-moon, once again, about the
importance of U.N. action when it comes to the Iranians, because the
Iranians have not met up with their obligations.

Bill.

Q What is your reaction to the airing of the so-called
"confessions" of these Americans being held by Iran?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, the entire -- these are people who came
peacefully to Iran, and ironically, many of these folks have devoted
considerable amounts of their time and energy to try to encourage
Americans to think more kindly of the government of Iran. They are
private citizens, they are not party to any of the ongoing disputes
between the government of Iran and government of the United States. And
it is just ridiculous for anybody to harbor notions that they represent
a threat to the regime.

Q Is there any leverage that the U.S. has to get them out?

MR. SNOW: Connie, I'm not going to go -- obviously, we'll use what
leverage we can.

Q Is there any reaction to Iran's Foreign Minister saying his
government has accepted a U.S. request for ambassador-level talks on
Iraq?

MR. SNOW: Well, what's going on -- the proper venue -- what
happens is that the Iraqis themselves request conversations between the
United States and the government of Iran, and this is a channel that has
long been open, in terms of dealing strictly with issues that have to do
with the security of Iraq. And there certainly has been some interest
in having conversations with the Iranians, not about anything broader --
not about the nuclear issues or anything else, but security issues.
Again, this is a channel we have talked about many times.

Q At the ambassador level?

MR. SNOW: It could be at the ministerial level, but it's certainly
going to be high level.

Q I also have a question about Pakistan. The President, when he
had a news conference with Musharraf last September, right after the
tribal deal was signed --

MR. SNOW: Right.

Q -- he said that when the President, President Musharraf,
"looks me in the eye and says the tribal deal is intended to reject the
Talibanization of the people, I believe him." Does he regret allowing
that plan so much time to give it a chance to work?

MR. SNOW: No, I think -- again, Pakistan is a sovereign government
and Pervez Musharraf is a man who, as President of Pakistan and as the
general, has an obligation and a challenge to do what he thinks is going
to be most effective in securing peace within his own land and, also, at
the same time, obviously, dealing with many of the troublesome issues
that have to do with border -- the incursion across the border of
Taliban fighters into Afghanistan. But the one thing we can say for
sure is that the plan, as well-intentioned as it was, didn't work.

Q But as a close U.S. ally who receives aid, can't you put
pressure on him? Are you --

MR. SNOW: Well, again, as I pointed out, he understands the
realities and they have begun moving troops -- they began moving troops
before the NIE came out. And they've been moving troops into the area
because they understand that they got a real -- they have got a
challenge then they need to deal with.

Q Tony, one more on the Senate debate.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Have you been able to ascertain whether the President watched
any of it? And is it your judgment that this was a completely waste or
time, or was something accomplished by it?

MR. SNOW: Well, I'll let others -- look, I'm not sure a whole lot
was accomplished by it. I don't think a lot of people are going to take
out campaign ads, saying triumphantly that they skipped a night's sleep
or that they spent time on a cot. (Laughter.) So I think I'll just let
it stay at that.

Q Just one last thing. I think you said the most recent
intelligence said that there are no known cells in the U.S. Are you --

MR. SNOW: That's what the NIE was saying, yes.

Q But that -- the NIE wouldn't really be the most recent
intelligence. Would it be real-time intelligence --

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to try to talk about real-time
intelligence. I was repeating what the NIE said.

Q Okay, that's what I wanted to make clear. And that was
finished when?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. These things are -- as you know, they get
completed, and then they run through a staffing process. But this is
not something that's been sitting on the shelf for a long time. Better
make sure I get those --

Q Is that an unscrubbed version that you're giving us the
statement from?

MR. SNOW: I am giving you the unscrubbed -- I am giving the key
judgments.

Elaine.

Q Can I just get your reaction -- I know you talked about this
morning, or actually didn't talk about it -- about the Border Patrol
agents. Senator Feinstein is saying she and Senator Cornyn are going to
write letters to the President -- a letter asking for commutation --

MR. SNOW: Well, I'm sure the President will read them with
interest. What I did say -- and we never talk in advance -- as you
noted the Scooter Libby case -- we simply do not talk about applications
or petitions or requests for pardon or commutation. That is something
that is done on a confidential basis, and people look at it. I will not
confirm -- confirm or deny that anything has been done, including
whether there have been any applications by the parties involved. So
it's just inappropriate to get into that.

Q Tony, you noted this morning that the sentences in the Border
Patrol case were within the federal sentencing guidelines. They also
were in the Libby case. So those guidelines are not a hurdle around
here?

MR. SNOW: Well, actually -- no, if you take a look, actually,
there is some dispute in legal circles about what the proper boundaries
were for the sentencing in the Libby case. And I'll leave it at that.
I'll leave it to the lawyers --

Q No one recommended no jail time.

MR. SNOW: On the other hand, there are differing benchmarks there
for the use of it. What you do have is you've got probation, you've got
a $250,000 fine. That's a significant punishment.

Q Is it the administration's position that the sentence in that
case was beyond the federal sentencing guidelines?

MR. SNOW: Again, I will -- I'm not going to try to get myself into
the legal cases, but you've seen arguments on both sides. I think if
you took at look at the court papers -- I'm not going to try to fob
myself off as a lawyer on this. I'll let the lawyers argue over it.

Sarah.

Q Thank you. Tony, what are the safeguards of American nuclear
plants to prevent what happened in Japan? And do we also have
sufficient safeguards to protect against terrorists at our nuclear
plants?

MR. SNOW: Yes. (Laughter.)

Q How does the President see the job description of Tony Blair
as the envoy for the Quartet --

MR. SNOW: I'm sorry, what?

Q How does the President see the job description of Tony Blair
as the envoy for the Quartet to the Middle East?

MR. SNOW: Well, obviously, what he's going to try to do is to be a
facilitator in efforts to try to deal with the many challenges. In the
short run, it amounts to trying to assist in institution-building in the
Palestinian -- with the Palestinian government -- that is the foremost
challenge right now -- and to try to create conditions and institutions
that are going to provide security and stability so that that government
will be in a position to negotiate in good faith with Israel, and also
be able to deliver on Quartet requirements, ultimately. But first
things first is, we're in an institution-building phase, and Tony Blair
obviously is somebody who's very persuasive and able to try to marshal a
lot of support on the international scene.

Q Do you have any reaction to Mahmoud Abbas -- he just said a
few minutes ago he doesn't want to talk about money, he doesn't want to
talk about our procedural steps towards a state, he wants to talk about
the final status now, which he actually rolled out from his conference.

MR. SNOW: That's the first I've heard. I can't react to something
that I haven't had a chance to see or put in context.

Q Tony, you told us this morning that Americans don't like the
imagery of Iraqi lawmakers not working in August. But what about the
White House? What does the President think about that imagery?

MR. SNOW: Well, I've said before, what we think is important is
that there is continued work and continued progress toward political
accommodation, and ultimately political success in the form of passing
key pieces of legislation. I'm not going to go any further.

Q Tony, just curious, what are the mechanics of the way this
deal works with the slides? How often do you --

MR. SNOW: Well, obviously I pushed the wrong button for starters,
so I'm getting used to it myself. (Laughter.)

Q How often do you think you'll be using it? How are the
pictures chosen? What agency -- how many agencies were behind this
thing today?

MR. SNOW: Well, basically, I'm the one who picked the slides, and
what we did was we put them through a staffing process to ensure
accuracy. We will use them when we think it's appropriate, in terms of
providing things that are of news value. And at some point, we may have
a capacity for using video, as well.

I don't want to -- obviously, you want to use it in a way that's
going to be a complement and not a substitute for doing a press
briefing. So -- but we do plan to make fairly regular use of it. I
think it's important.

Q Do you see the President, himself, standing up there and
pressing buttons? (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: Again, I hope he does a better job than I did at the
outset.

Q Did you press the buttons or did they?

MR. SNOW: I did. Didn't you notice when I was like, oh, no,
that's the wrong button.

Q No, but that lectern is so big and ugly I can't see a thing.
(Laughter.)

Q What does the button say?

MR. SNOW: "Next." (Laughter.) That's literally what is says.

Q Tony, going back to a question of legality in Scooter Libby,
did the President and Scooter Libby, by any chance, have any
communication --

MR. SNOW: No.

Q -- since the commutation?

MR. SNOW: Oh, since the -- no, I don't think so. I don't think
so.

Q So Libby hadn't sent a note or anything, saying "thank you" or
-- (laughter) --

MR. SNOW: Not that I'm aware of. I don't think there has been
any. There were no flowers, no chocolates. (Laughter.)

Q Do you have an "eject" button there, Tony?

MR. SNOW: An "eject" button? No. (Laughter.) But I think, in
advance -- one of you can say the magic words. You're certainly free to
do it. (Laughter.)